It's like telling an epileptic to get to the route of their problems instead of encouraging them to take medicine to stop or lessen their seizures

Until about WW2 med students were still being taught that epilepsy was mostly an emotional disorder. The high prevalence of comobid anxiety and depressive disorders mean it it often a neuropsychiatric disorder requiring treatment for both the neurological and psychiatric components.

It and the anxiety disorders share many of the same benzodiazepine-GABA binding site deficits which is why they both respond so well to benzodiazepines.

NOTE: I'm not a doctor, and particularly not yours, so there may be factors I'm unaware of. Therefore all advice is of a general nature and you should consult your doctor before following any of it, especially before changing med doses.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is now thought to be an abnormality in the brain or brain chemicals. It is no longer called obsessive compulsive anxiety neurosis. For years I tried to get to the root of my problems with talk therapy. Yes I gained insight, but guess what -- I still had severe OCD. It was not until I got on the right medicines that the OCD was mostly silenced. That is why I am still here at 55 when I never thought I would make it out of my teens or 20's. It's like telling an epileptic to get to the route of their problems instead of encouraging them to take medicine to stop or lessen their seizures. These 2 conditions are both brain disorders.

And for some that is the case. I can tell you in the population I work with...I take everyone off of everything...all meds, all supplements, all street drugs etc. These people have been diagnosed with panic disorders, schizophrenia, bi-polar, depression, OCD, etc and so on. I detox them then find out what their baseline is and we go from there. I work with people who had no program, no recovery, no talk therapy, no spirituality nothing but drugs because they had been diagnosed with a mental disorder. They went to a psychiatrist and was diagnosed then shuffled out the door with a script.

You would be surprised at what I find...the vast majority do very well without medication when the have been given alternative tools for recovery. These people have tried the traditional routes and find themselves diagnosed and addicted. I have seen over 1000 people in the last three years, I would say I had to send out less than 10 to an acute psych ward, and placed less than another 10 on medication.

Why is this the case? Well because substances can also cause symptoms similar to mental illness. Because you don't know what someone has or how severe it is until you clear the brain of drugs, process pain/fear/trauma and then give them tools for living. I keep probably about a 1/3rd for a year or longer...49% complete the program without a relapse, without medication and without leaving AMA. These people are leading happy and healthy lives...the same ones diagnosed with severe mental illness.

Can everyone do it medication free? Absolutely not. It likely means their disorder was more severe, and was resistant to medication free treatment. But, with so many voices out there screaming for medications, I find fulfillment being one of the few fighting for another way.

So, the people here have their own experiences which I respect...but they can not extrapolate their experience onto others. Each have their own journey, and medication free is one of those paths that works for some.